The 80th Annual Hunger Games
by hpnj4i
Summary: This is my first fanfiction and I suck so just bare with me.
1. 1 The Reaping

I wake up early and find the sunshine shining down at me from the window. I lie there for a moment thinking about what the day will bring until I remember…It's reaping Day! My name is Flare Blacksworth and I have one 2 year old brother named Edward and a mum. I'm 15 years old and I still don't know what happened to my dad. Apparently the odds just aren't in his favour. My friend Connor Vedrick is also in the reaping for the Hunger Games. He and I have known each other since we were two and we have been training for the Hunger Games ever since we were six. We are citizens from district 9 so we don't get much time to train as we have been forced to work in the factories ever since we were three. When we had time, we used to sneak out to the woods and lift weights or shoot birds with our bow and arrows. I never succeeded in aim. But unlike Connor, I succeeded in the running challenges. Like with the obstacle courses we used to set out on the grass.

I sit up and find clothes set out at the bottom of my bed. I get out, put them on, tie my hair then walk downstairs to my mum, who is sitting in the kitchen reading the daily newspaper and Edward who is watching the TV.

"Morning." I mutter as I choose my seat next to her.

"Morning." she replies not even taking one glare.

If you saw us, you would never guess that we are mother and daughter. She has dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and she tans easily whereas I have long brown hair and Hazel eyes. She was also quiet small for her age and I almost towered her.

"May I go to Connor's?" I ask her while sitting straight up in my seat, eagerly waiting for her answer.

"Sure, maybe you could go to the reaping with him too."

I jump up from my seat before she changes her mind and race to the front door, closing it behind me. I run around the block to Connor's house. When I poke my head through the door

Connor run's up to me and embraces me. He has black hair and brown, misty eyes.

"I'm so glad you're here!" he says "I hoped we don't get picked"

He stops embracing me and turns to look at his mum, Belle, who is working in the kitchen. Connor and his family all look very alike so there was no mistake.

"May we go train?" He asks

"No, I don't think there's enough time" She looks at her watch "The reaping is starting soon." She puts down her kitchen utensils and calls from the bottom of the staircase: "SAMANTHA! GET DOWN HERE!"

A young nine year old girl with wavy black hair comes running down the stairs.

"Yes Mother?"

"Time for the reaping"

"But I'm not going" she replies "Am I?"

"Just because you're not of age yet it doesn't mean you can't go!" her mother exclaims

She grabs her car keys from the rack near the front door and forwards out. The three of us follow. We hop inside the car and buckle up. The trip seems long as we basically live in the middle of nowhere and we don't have much money to live in district nine's city. When Belle finally drives into the parking lot and finds a parking spot near the Town Square Connor and I am escorted to our age and gender groups. As soon as the buzzing stops, Ella Starrk starts talking in her usual over-enthused voice. She has brown, short, wavy hair with blue and blonde streaks and is loaded with make-up. She is wearing a purple dress with yellow polka-dots and a yellow belt around the middle.

"Happy Hunger Games!" she says, and walks off the stage.

A large screen comes down and a video starts playing about what the Hunger Games is like and all of the benefits. I've watched it a thousand times before on TV, so I don't bother to pay any attention to it. I spot Belle and my mother standing in the crowd.

"Now," Ella says as she walks back onto the stage. "Ladies first."

She walks over to an over-sized glass ball with everyone's names in it. She then places her hand inside and pulls out a name.

"Flare Blacksworth!" she says with her huge smile spread over her face.

I nearly felt like fainting. What use do I have in the Hunger games? None. I nervously walk up onto the stage with the peacekeepers walking furiously behind me. I see my mum's hands over her face from on the stage. Ella then walks over to another large glass ball and pulls a boy's name out.

"Andrew Mela"

Andrew Mela? At least I'll make a friend during this adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

"I volunteer as tribute!"

I look to the right and find Connor who stepped out of the crowd and is putting his hand in the air.

"Oh, Great!" says Ella "It is always nice to have a volunteer!"

Connor steps up onto the stage looking determined as ever.

"What is your name?" asks Ella, smiling at him sweetly with her white capitol teeth.

He gulps and breathes, "Connor Vedrick."

The rest of the reaping goes really quickly. Before I know it, Connor and I are taken to the justice building.

"FLARE!" My mother exclaims running up to me with Edward in her arms and embracing me.

I embrace her too. While doing so, I see Connor's mum crying and talking to Connor looking upset, but furious with him. Deep down inside I was furious with him too but there was also a slight flood of relief in me knowing that I knew someone is on my side in the arena. My mum stops embracing me and I see a tear fall down her face.

"I know y-you'll make it through."she says, trying to wipe her tears. "We w-will be f-fine. G-Good Luck."

She then leaves the room with Belle and Ella comes and informs us it's time to go. At first we are dragged inside a car and are taken to the train station. I don't understand why we don't walk because it's only 250 meters away. When we get out of the car we see a person waiting for us in front of a train.

"This is Angel" says Ella "She is going to be your mentor."

"Hi there." she says putting out her hand for Connor and I to shake. I recognise her from on the stage.

With a small and nervous "Hey.", we get onto the train and are taken to our compartments inside. My bedroom, which I know I won't be sleeping in for long, has a bed with blue coverings and black drawers are standing in the corner of the room. I lie on my bed even though I am not tired. It is actually quite comfy considering that heaps of tributes have slept in it. I hear a knock on the door and I jump up and answer it. It is Ella and Connor.

"DINNER TIME!" says Ella, banging on the door.

Connor and I follow Ella to a dining room set for 4 people with lots of food. Angel was sitting down waiting for us. We sat down next to her and ate dinner while watching the other reaping's. District one consists of a really beautiful girl with long blonde hair and a boy with brown hair. District two has a girl with big eyes and bubble-like glasses while the boy didn't look as intimidating but he has definitely been training by the looks of it. As the reaping passed on, the only ones that slightly scared me were the boys from districts Four and Seven. When the videos finished we started talking about ways to get sponsors.

"I don't want people to know everything that has happened in my life." Connor merely states before the conversation had even had it's groove.

"It won't be like that." says Angel reassuringly.

"As long as he gets a good score in private sessions I think not saying much could play to his advantage...' Ella says quietly.

"Oh, yes." I say "I've seen him fight, I know he has skills." Everyone glares at me like I wasn't invited to talk and they didn't like it. I shrug it off, trying to avoid saying anything from now on unless asked.

"What skills do you have?" Angel asks Connor after a long period of silence.

"I'm pretty good with a bow and arrow." he replies

"What about you?" Angel turns to me but before I could reply, Connor had butted in.

"She's fast." Connor says. "And she's really good with throwing knives."

"How smart are you two?'

"Hunger Games smarts are probably in Connor's favour." I say, unable to help myself. "He's a lot more in control of his temper then I and he is less likely to do something stupid like start a fire at night when all the other tributes can see, though his sense of direction is way off.' I explain. He half glares at me.

"She's got a bad temper." Is all Connor says.

Through most of the dinner, Angel keeps questioning us but I dare not say anything else. I didn't really like starting grudges with people that I have known for a long time so I better not stir Connor up any more. After a little more talking, we call it a night. I head back to my room, lie down and slowly fall asleep.

I wake up the next morning and Ella is knocking on my door to tell me breakfast is ready. I get out of bed though I'm still tired and walk to where everyone else is. We eat quietly with no hesitation. But when it gets too quiet I ask a question that I have been longing to ask Connor ever since we arrived on the train,

"Why did you volunteer for a random person?"

He stares at me for a moment.

"Isn't it obvious?" He says "I wanted to protect you."

The rest of the time on the train is very short. I'm mostly just shut in my room thinking about what the games would be like. In fact, I'm thinking about it so much that I went through a whole night without sleeping. Finally, Ella knocks on my door again and tells me that it's time to get off. I do so without hesitation and follow her onto a platform and into another car. That's when the crowds and cameras appear, the most dreading moment in my whole life. What if I say something that I didn't really mean to? What if I'm having a bad hair day? I don't know. All I know is that from now on people will be watching me everywhere I go. When we get out of the car and the crowds disappear, Connor, Angel and I follow Ella into a rather tall building. We go through a sliding door then to a hallway on the second left then we are gestured into a room much like a hospital room.

"These are your stylists" Ella says "Roy and Anna. Anna will be yours" she points to Connor with her stubby fingers "And Roy will be yours." she then points to me. Now, get ready for the opening ceremony."

She and Angel then swiftly leave the room closing the door behind her. Roy had blonde spikey hair, light blue eyes and looked around 25-30 years of age. Anna had brunette hair, brown eyes and looked to be in her mid-twenties.

"Come," said Roy, taking my hand.

He took me to the end of the room and laid me down on one of the beds. He then undressed me and put yellow and black clothes on me. It kind of looked cool with the black and yellow stripes and the yellow belt around the middle but it also looked awkward because Ella wore something like this at the reaping. He then took me to a chair and did my hair. It wasn't what I was expecting. He braided my hair and put it to the side adding hairspray and glitter. When he finished his masterpiece we went back to the other end of the room and we met Connor and Annie. Connor was wearing a black blouse, tight yellow pants and his hair was flat. This, in my opinion, was better than mine. The stylists then took us back to the lobby and then led us to another hallway with lots of people our age standing in a line. At the end of the hallway there were big oak doors.

"Join this line." Roy told us "And we'll meet you through the big oak doors when it's your turn."

They walked through the doors and disappeared. By now six more people joined the line behind us. Just then the line started walking through the oak doors. We followed the line and stepped on a platform just as we entered the doors. It started moving. There were heaps of crowds shouting out our names and cheering us on. I spotted Annie and Roy who were giving Connor and I signs to hold hands. We did so and we saw our picture on a big screen in the front of the room. When we finally made it to the end, the platform stopped moving. An old person with a grey mustache and a bald head walked onto the stage.

"Happy Hunger games!" he exclaimed "These are our tributes!" The crowd started shouting and cheering. "May the odds be ever in your favour"

After that, I have no idea what happened. Peacekeepers started dragging Connor and I out of the room and we met Ella, Angel, Annie and Roy in the Hallway.

"You did great!" exclaimed Annie.

"Magnificent!" added Roy, beaming.

"What do you mean?" asked Connor "We didn't do anything..?"

"Exactly!" said Ella '"Now, come."

We followed Ella to a lift that I didn't notice in the lobby. She pressed a button and we went up quite a few levels. When the lift stopped and opened we went inside a room filled with green and pink. It was kind of gross-looking. I had a couch and a huge TV, bigger than I have ever seen back home.

"This-" said Ella, waving her arm in front of her to let us through "Is where we will be staying."

She led us down a hallway and showed us to our rooms. I had my own. It was like the one back in the train except with more colours.

"We'll be having dinner soon." said Ella. And she closed the door swiftly behind her.

I went over to my bed and saw a remote. I clicked "_Open_" on the remote and the walls went up to show a balcony. I clicked "_Close_" and it closed back up. I threw the remote back on my bed. I wanted to explore. I have never been to the capital and this is nothing like back home. Sooner than I expected, I heard a knock on my door and it was Ella saying that dinner is ready. I followed her past the living room and into a dining room with a glass table and green velvet chairs. Connor, Annie and Roy were already there waiting for us. We sat down.

"Tomorrow is training." stated Roy 'So get ready in the morning."

"There will probably be clothes set out for you on your bed when you wake up" said Angel excitedly.

"And the next day is interviews." added Ella.

I was definitely not ready for this.


End file.
